


the world burns

by shiiera



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: A lot of play on duality of personality, All Aboard the Emo Train Choo Choo, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dark Rey, Dark Reylo, Descriptions of sex, Empress Rey, F/M, Kylo Ren being well Kylo Ren, Mentions of Luke Skywalker, Pregnancy, Snoke Is A Creep, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Unexpected Pregnancy, Vingette style
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-08 15:09:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18897133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiiera/pseuds/shiiera
Summary: The Empress is the beacon of light and solidarity for the First Order. The Supreme Leader assigns to her a guardian, Kylo Ren, to be her right hand as the First Order takes over the galaxy. No one expected it to turn out the way that it did.TLDR: Dark Rey/Empress Rey trashfic no one asked for.





	1. part i

**Author's Note:**

> Two Parter. Not beta'd. Lots of grammar/spelling/typos. Potentially dubious scene at the end, depends on how you take it.

She sat on an obsidian throne against a backdrop of red. Her hair pulled into an elaborate style upon her crown, her lips painted as red as the angry lightsaber that her knight kept at his side. Here, she was a queen, the legacy of the Emperor in its physical form, the symbol in which child soldiers died for and knights slaughtered in name for.

 

She sat tall; her lean body wrapped in black robes that came from her neck, down to pool of delicate silk at her feet. It was as if she had risen from the darkness, all powerful and encompassing.

 

The galaxy was burning, and she was the spark that made it happen.

 

+++

 

“You are the child of the Emperor,” Snoke drawled, his crooked face twisted pleased with the thought of owning such a prized possession. “You are what this order will die for, child. Watch as they bring the galaxy to its knees in your name. You — child of Sidious — are the spark in which we live.”

 

She stood before the tall, malformed creature with an indifference upon her face. His long, willowy fingers caressed her cheek as he closed his blue eyes and exhaled as if the physical contact was enough to connect him with the eternal Emperor — the greatest Sith Lord.

 

“Kylo Ren,” Snoke began, once he was done with his prized possession, “Master of the Knights of Ren — descendant of the great Darth Vader. Do you know why I have called you here?”

 

A distorted voice echoed, “You Will is my command, Supreme Leader.”

 

“Mm, yes. Loyal you are — much like your grandfather.”

 

All he saw was the smooth skin of her back. He never had seen her face. No one had the privilege. Yet, Snoke had her turn around to look at the mighty Kylo Ren. He shows the Knight off like a display at an exhibition, his voice full of gleeful passion of what the Force has granted him.

 

“You are to serve her as your grandfather served his Emperor.”

 

He kneeled and bowed his head without hesitation. It was his destiny, after all, to finish what his grandfather had started.

 

+++

 

Jakku.

 

That was all he had known about her. She came from the sands of Jakku. An artifact from The Observatory — a child suspended in carbonate, freed into the world decades later by a mad general and a frantic fringe of a crumbled Empire.

 

Snoke had felt the Force in her. Strong, he had said, as if the Emperor himself flowed through her veins. He raised her, trained her, molded her into the perfect weapon. She would be the second coming — the eventual reincarnation of the Emperor. The galaxy would fall to their knees in her presence. The Sith would rise again.

 

“Sand. I remember sand.” She told him one day.

 

He watched her from where she sat on the dais, draped in nothing but obsidian-colored robes that resembled a vivacious liquid pooling from her neck to the floor. He had never spoken to her, always hovered around in the shadows, silently observing and watching loyally as the Supreme Leader had wanted it. Kylo Ren had never heard her voice, either. They occupied each other’s space in a mutual silence – but she had spoken, and he had listened to her voice with a restrained awe.

 

“When I was a child, they would let me outside… The sentinel droids. I don’t remember much other than the sand.”

 

He watched her and waited.

 

But there came nothing other than the silence of throne room.

 

+++

 

 

When the First Order land on a planet in the Outer Rim, they come with the might of a hundred strong — Stormtroopers of imposing strength and the tallest one encased in chrome, armed with F-11Ds and the the will of their Supreme Leaser.

 

They offer the leaders an ultimatum — join or die. Most of the planets bend to their will, and join for the protection of the Order, but there are those planets that resist. A hundred became one thousand, and on the lips of stolen children turned soldiers are, “From the ashes of cinder, born again the new Empire!”

 

She watched from the throne. She always did. It was what the Supreme Leader willed of her to do when a planet fell, and of his will she followed. It was all that she had known, after all.

 

“They do this for you,” Snoke would say, gleefully. “In your name, they bring the galaxy to its knees. Watch, child, watch and revel in its glory.”

 

She watched, but her eyes focused on the knight with the frantic lightsaber. He was a brute — uncivilized and wild, like a rabid animal who had finally stuck back at his its abuser.

 

Kylo Ren did not kill in her name. He killed in his own.

 

+++

 

The air smelled of ozone and death. Whatever remained of the village was nothing but the ashes of the slain. Whoever had survived the massacre were loaded into transports, chained together like herded animals to be enslaved at a penal colony. When she stepped onto the scorched earth, the Stormtroopers step aside and stand to attention.

 

Their Empress has arrived, unexpectedly and without warning. She felt their nervousness — it permeated through their armor like a rotten stench. Fear. Some were afraid of her. How could those that killed in her name be afraid of her? Was she not their beacon of light?

 

But it was the first time that they had heard her speak. The first time that their deity has become mortal. They were afraid because she was now real.

 

“Your majesty, for what do we owe the pleasure of your appearance?” Phasma, the chrome plated Stormtrooper was not afraid. She was in control and determined. She killed for the Empire — her devotion knowing no depth. If anything, she was eager to please her Empress for her arrival was an honor.

 

“I wanted to see the fruits of your conquest for myself.” The Empress said from under the heavy hood of the black cloak she wore. No one dare saw her face.

 

“We have successfully subdued the rebel scum and succeeded in our conquest.”

 

She saw the rabid cur emerge from carnage, his mask caked with dirt and mud and his cloak singed from blaster fire. He bowed before her and she held back the gasp that had threatened to escape her red lips.

 

“The leaders of this planet are dead. Long live the Supreme Leader.”

 

The Empress does not need to look into his mind to know what he thought. She listened to his words and repeated the declaration, “Long live the Supreme Leader.”

 

A cry a thousand voices strong rose into the heavens: Long Live the Supreme Leader.

 

+++

 

Her name was Rey. He did not ask her, nor did she tell him. It just happened to be like a whisper against his mind — a memory that was not his own yet seeped into his mind as if it were. These events — memories of a time before his very own — happened at night, when he was at his most vulnerable.

 

One night turned into days that turned into weeks until he decided to forgo sleep. Sleepless nights spent in the archives to find out why this was happening to him. Yet, he could not find anything to explain how he was able to dream about moments in _her_ life as if they were his own; or how the experiences were far more vivid the farther he was away from her on a planet during a conquest.

 

“Your name is Rey.” He told her once the _Supremacy_ arrived at the planet of Rishii, a tropical planet of islands crawling with disorder.

 

The Empress looked at Kylo Ren from her dais, “And you are Ben Solo. A child who wants so badly to become a ghost.”

 

His jaw ticked, but he stayed silent. The Force roared between them — but she was calm, and he was like a raging storm. Rey felt it, closed her eyes and pushed against it.

 

“Take off your mask. I want to see the grandchild of Darth Vader.”

 

A hiss and then the reveal of a soft face and sad eyes, framed by a wild mane of black unruly hair.

 

“There’s so much light in you, Ben Solo.” She said. “You don’t belong here.”

 

“Your words mean nothing to me.”

 

“Neither does yours.”

 

“I know.”

 

A lie.

 

+++

 

The New Republic was on alert. As the First Order increased their hold on the Outer Rim, so did the worry of the bureaucrats that occupied the government of the New Republic. The red headed general, Armitage Hux, spoke with pomp as he declared war against the Republic atop the platform of his newest creation — a destroyer of planets aptly named Starkiller Base.

 

Aboard the _Supremacy_ , Rey watched the holovid from her private chamber. She was too young for the war then and she was too young to understand it now. But she had to care because the Supreme Leader said so. It was her destiny, after all, to lead the galaxy from the ashes and into a new era, a new dawn.

 

She was the Emperor’s final weapon, after all.

 

“Turn it off.”

 

A protocol droid obeyed the command.

 

What good is a weapon if it’s collecting dust? The Supreme Leader coddled her; he kept her like a prized doll to showcase. It was as if she existed only to be a symbol, rather than fight on the battlefield like his Knights of Ren and its rabid Leader.

 

She looked at Kylo Ren.

 

“Teach me.”

 

He looked at her, and after a moment, “Teach you what?”

 

“The Force. How to fight.”

 

“An Empress does not fight.”

 

She frowned.

 

“I am not an Empress. I am the last creation of the Emperor. My purpose is more than being a doll.”

 

“The Supreme Leader — “

 

“Take off that ridiculous mask and speak to me as if I were your equal.”

 

He hesitated for the briefest of moments. He did not want her to see his face — to see his weakness. The mask had given him leverage; without it, he was nothing. Exposed and weak.

 

“There he is.”

 

He wanted to hate her for this, but he couldn’t.

 

+++

 

They spar, unbeknownst to the Supreme Leader. In the belly of _The Supremacy,_ there were no opulent robes or masks. Instead, there were arm guards and black shirts. Sweat drenched skin and wild hair. Scratches and bruises. Freckles and beauty marks.

 

Kylo Ren taught her the art of fighting with a light saber — or so he had thought. Whether he realized it or not, the woman plucked the knowledge from him like a leech. Every form that he had spent years mastering under the tutelage of his waste of an uncle, she had picked up in a matter of hours.

 

And while Kylo Ren would have been perturbed by the bizarre advancement of the girl named Rey had she been any one else, he enjoyed the challenge. There was a thrill in fighting her that he could never explain. Maybe it was the way she bared her teeth as she launched into a wild stroke of her vibrosword, or the way she would mark him with a bloodlust that would even frighten him.

 

The darkness that had emanated from her was like a sweet wine that he needed to consume, to become drunk on. He had become addicted to her power and, before he had realized, he was on his knees with his own lightsaber at his throat.

 

“Yield.” She has told him breathlessly.

 

He licked his lips and looked directly into her hazel eyes, “I yield, my Empress.”

 

Rey never liked the word until he rolled off his tongue in that moment. The Force hummed between them, pulsating with power and she consumed it all as greedy as a child in a desert.

 

+++

 

The Supreme Leader’s fingers brushed against the bruised cheek of his child. Who had damaged her, he wondered, before letting them fall away. He limped back to his dais and sat down with a sigh.

 

“What happened?”

 

Rey shielded her mind from the Supreme Leader as lies tumbled from her lips, “ I hurt myself when the transport shuttle hit turbulence.”

 

Kylo Ren had struck her during a spar; had wanted to try something new — teras kasi – a form of fighting she had known. It was an accident and, for the briefest of moments she felt his immense regret and fear of harming her. She had attacked him for that emotional weakness, drawing blood in its wake.

 

“Perhaps I should stop sending you to the battles.”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“The Empress is eternal, not some pathetic mortal that gets bruised on a _ridiculous_ transport.”

 

Rey looked away. Not even the layers of foundation could hide away her shame.

 

And then, in that moment, Snoke’s eyes had lit up and his crooked mouth grew into a grin. He had saw into her mind — exposed through the cracks of her shame. He motioned for her to join him at his side and she does as told.

 

“An Empress should never be weak.” His eyes drifted to the Master of the Knights of Ren who knelt before them. “Make her know a pain so unimaginable that she can _fully_ understand the _power_ of the dark side.”

 

+++

 

When they fought, she wanted to draw blood. He wanted her to destroy him.

 

+++

 

When the Empress arrived on Starkiller Base for the very first time, there was a celebration in her honor. The Empress has arrived, and the first order was forever in her debt. Armitage Hux personally lead her tour around the frigid, gray base built directly into a small planetoid. His excitement in explaining how they managed to mine into the planet’s core and turn it into a weapon did not impress her.

 

Flanked by the Praetorian Guards, she stopped just short of the command deck.

 

“ What is the purpose of creating a new Death Star?” She asked.

 

General Hux’s smile has faltered, enough so that she could sense his displeasure at her, “So that the galaxy will bow to our might.”

 

“But have we not learned our lesson from the last two?”

 

She had remembered the day when the second Death Star had fallen. It was the day where the sentinel droid had ushered her away into a platform, the face of a projected Palpatine lying about being transported somewhere safe as she was lowered into a chamber. She had fallen asleep, and then everything went dark.

 

“Our technology is far superior to that of the old Imperial Navy,” he paused. “Shall we continue our tour?”

 

The Empress whispered into the ear of a guard.

 

“The Empress wishes to retire for the evening.”

 

As the Empress and her guards walked away, General Hux’s smile had turned into a frown of disgust. One day, he thought as he entered the command deck, his technology would surpass that of a Force user. He would show them — and once he has secured his rightful place, he world rid the galaxy of them all.

 

+++

 

“The Force keeps connecting us.” Rey said during the second night of her visit to Starbase Killer. Kylo Ren looked at her from across the room, his mask removed. He rarely wore his mask around her those days, and he could never figure out why he felt compelled to be that exposed around her.

 

“What makes you think it’s the force.”

 

“You’d be dead if you tried this.”

 

He hummed, “That is true.”

 

“This has happened before. It’s rare but it has happened.” She sat down on the bed. There were no windows so deep underground. “It starts off with dreams, and then …”

 

“… memories and emotions. We are essentially becoming…”

 

A small smile crept upon her lips, “… one.”

 

He shivered.

 

“Where are you?”

 

“Jakku.”

 

“Have you found it.”

 

“No. I haven’t.”

 

He disappeared before she could ask her next question. The room shook as Starkiller Base prepared itself for another test.

 

+++

 

An astromech droid and a defecting Stormtrooper stole a Correllian YT freighter, escaped the planet Jakku, and was nowhere to be found.

 

The Empress watched as Kylo Ren destroyed the equipment in a fitful rage, only to grab the First Order officer by his throat in a choke hold with the Force. There weren’t that many Correllian YT freighters in the galaxy, especially one tied to the rebel scum now known as _The Resistance_.

 

The more his mind churned over the details, the stronger his grip became. She watched eagerly from the shadows, feeling the darkness rise and smother that annoying light that was always pulsating beneath the surface.

 

The officer dropped to the floor, gasping for air.

 

“Find that ship.” Kylo Ren barked. With a simple push of the Force, Dopheld Mitaka slid out of the room and the doors locked shut.

 

The Force has not severed their bond and he turned to face the woman who had witnessed it all. He fed off of her, allowing her darkness to smother that _insistent_ light, the gnawing regret that chipped away at his soul.

 

“We will find the traitor and we will kill him.” She told him.

 

He felt her hand on his shoulder. In that moment he was able to relax.

 

+++

 

Praetorian Guards were a rare sight, especially on _t_ _he Finalizer_ , but Kylo Ren had seen them far to many times to be raveled like the mindless troopers that roamed the hangar bay, and when their Empress had emerged from the transport, cloaked under a heavy black hood, the Stormtroopers had stopped what they were doing and bowed.

 

Kylo Ren dropped to his knees, “Welcome aboard the Finalizer, my Empress.”

 

This time, the word _empress_ was more than just subservient. She also felt the admiration beneath the modular distortion of his mask. Her lips curled into a smile, “Thank you, my loyal knight.”

 

Under the mask he had smiled as well.

 

+++

 

“Yield.”

 

He had her pinned onto the floor, her arm held behind her back, his oversized body nearly encompassing her smaller one. She bucked against him to no avail. His grip grew tighter.

 

“Yield.” He repeated.

 

She could have used the Force to break away, but she refused to. Instead, she turned her head and looked over her shoulder.

 

She licked away the blood at the corner of her mouth, “I yield.”

 

He captured her lips in a kiss that burned her alive.

 

+++

 

For all their experiences on the battlefront, the bedroom was something entirely foreign to them. It was easy to pick up a lightsaber, to twist and flow between each form, or to subjugate and quell rebellion. He could bring a planet to its knees, but the idea of bringing her crashing to earth with his lips and hands scared him. Yet, each kiss burned her alive, each touch made her shake.

 

They had become human at that point; vulnerable and weak. They had become Rey and Ben Solo.

 

And when he pushed into her, she held onto him tighter, nails digging into his back and breaking skin. She took the pain and channeled it — used it. Allowed it to make her stronger.

 

“I … Are you —“ He choked out.

 

She rolled her hips and he gasped into her hair.

 

+++

 

“You’re crying.”

 

He wiped them away with his thumb. Soft, gentle. Not like before.

 

“I saw your future.”

 

He watched her but said nothing. For he had seen her future as well and knew that when the time would came, she would make the right decision. He, instead, kissed her and moved his fingers to her core, running soft circles that made her gasp against his mouth and quiver against his body.

 

When the time came, they would deal with it then. But now, they had that moment.

 

+++

 

From a small planetoid lightyears away came a powerful blast of energy that destroyed a system of planets for the entire galaxy to see. A military look on as its general watched with unfathomable pride.

 

A Supreme Leader greedily watched and relished in feeling of souls ripped away from the galaxy.

 

An Empress watched from an observation deck with disappointment as her Knight tried to stop the bubbling fear at the pit of his stomach. There could have been another way, his mind rebelliously thought. It’s traitorous and he quickly discarded it, throwing up his mental shields from the Supreme Leader.

 

“This is how all great empires fall.” Rey told him.

 

The galaxy finally understood the might of the First Order.

 

+++

 

It frustrated him that the little astromech and the traitor got away. But getting his hands on The Resistance’s annoying pilot made up for the mishap on Takodana. In fact, it was downright pleasing when Kylo Ren saw Poe Dameron locked up and strapped down in that chair. It did not take much to shoot him out of the sky —

 

\-- His overconfidence was always his weakness.

 

“ So, you’re gonna talk…” Dameron heaved with sarcasm, despite his injured state, “ Or am I gonna talk?”

 

Ben Solo always hated Poe Dameron’s overconfident nature. Even when they were kids, Dameron always annoyed him. He always got more from his father than he’d ever get. Poe was the son Han wished he have had.

 

Foolish old man.

 

He did not move as he stood before him, large and intimidating. Poe looked at him from hooded eyes and coughed. He winced and tasted metallic in his mouth.

 

That was not a good sign.

 

“I guess we are just gonna have a stare off then?”

 

“The map.”

 

“The map.”

 

Kylo Ren cocked his head to the right, “You’ve seen the map.”

 

“I’ve seen a lot of — aargh!”

 

He would not give him the opportunity to tell him willing. He snatched it from him like a bully taking a toy from a child. The pilot’s screams made the assault all the more enjoyable.

 

+++

 

“Ach-To.”

 

“The old Jedi temple…”

 

His tunic dropped unceremoniously onto the floor at his feet. He picked up his lightsaber and switched it on.

 

“How could I not have known that’s where he would have gone.”

 

She shrugged off her cloak, leaving her in nothing but pants and a camisole.

 

“Let the Supreme Leader know. He will have a fleet there in days and he — “

 

“No. I want to kill him myself.” He twirled the frenzied lightsaber in his hand. “Let’s begin again.”

 

The two clashed in wild game of lightsabers and plasma charged weapons.

 

+++

 

Killing his father was easy. The emotional pain of the aftermath was not. He used it, channeled it to fuel his anger as he stalked towards the traitor and that annoying pilot. Seeing his grandfather’s lightsaber in the hands of the traitor made him see red.

 

As Starkiller Base crumbled under their feet, Kylo Ren attacked like a wounded dog. Yet, the traitor – _Finn_ – held his own. Could it have been because of the bowcaster wound? No, that only made him stronger. Each punch to it – every sharp pulsating pain – he drew from that and focused that in his attacks.

 

In one strike he fell. In one moment, the earth split, and _that_ traitor is saved by the Force. The wookie carried him back to that piece of junk and he called for the lightsaber. He felt the resistance; it did not want to return to him. But he was the mighty Kylo Ren, and he would get what he wanted.

 

The planet cried as he picked up the lightsaber from the snow. He would not let the rejection consume him – he would break that saber, just as he had broken his own.

 

+++

 

“ I will not bleed the crystal,” Rey said as she weighed the lightsaber in her hand. “ It is not mine to bleed.”

 

“ It does not respond to me.” The frustration was clear in Kylo Ren’s voice. Rey switched the lightsaber on.

 

“ It is strong with the light,” She swung it as she looked at its bright blue blade. “ This lightsaber will never bleed for you. It will only bleed for Ben Solo, and as we both may know, Ben Solo is too much in the light to do such a thing.”

 

The saber switched off. Kylo Ren growled as he approached her, pressing her against the durasteel wall of her chamber on the _Supremacy_. The blade fell unceremoniously onto the floor.

 

“ Ben Solo is _dead_. I killed him because he was _weak_.”

 

If this was an attempt at intimidation, Rey was amused. She looked up defiantly at him, her red painted lips curled up into a smirk. She knew he was lying; she could feel the conflict that ripped at him, even more so since the death of his father. Ben Solo was as stubborn as that lightsaber and she loved it.

 

“ Show me then.”

 

There’s no caresses or butterfly kisses. Ben Solo is gone when he pushed her against the table in her chambers and turned her around as he forced her robes up and over her hips. There was Kylo Ren, in all his frustration and aggression, pulling apart the front of her robes to grab onto her exposed breasts and tug and pull at them. Rey was gone when she shoved her panties aside and spread her legs for her knight. There was the Empress when she sucked on his gloved fingers and groaned when she felt him sheath himself inside of her in one, swift painful thrust.

 

There were no humans in that room. Just angry, confused souls that clung onto the darkness of their souls as they smothered the light in their hearts.

 

And when he came, he bit junction of her neck and shoulder, muffling his cry. She hissed and fell forward, trying to come undone with a frantic hand and when she met her crescendo, she felt him move inside of her again.

 

Softly, gently.

 

He placed breathless kisses against the shell of her ear.

 

“ I…”

 

The words were left unsaid.

 

+++

 

**End of Part I**


	2. part ii

He couldn’t sleep at night since the attack on Starkiller Base. Not because of the shared dreams and memories with a ghost of a woman he had fallen in love with, but with the guilt of a death he had increasingly grown to regret in the farthest reaches of his soul.

He was grateful to the Force whenever it would connect them during those nights. He, on the _Finalizer_ , and she on the _Supremacy_. She would open her arms and he would come into her embrace, falling into her warmth. There was no darkness in those moments, but a mellow light that eased him into slumber where dreams were of islands and expansive oceans.

Then, there were moments where warmth was replaced by burning fire, where he’d allowed him self to be consumed by her body. She was more than an empress as he watched her lean hips roll like the waves of his — their — dreams. She was his goddess, and the Force had sent him to her for salvation.

+++

“ Kylo Ren… how is your wound.” Snoke asked his kneeling apprentice.

“ It’s nothing.”

“ I have sensed something wrong with you. Ever since the altercation on Starkiller Base, you have been… unbalanced.”

The Supreme Leader stood up and walked over to Kylo Ren. He reached for the Knight of Ren, caressing his mask with the tenderness of a parent.

“Take off this mask… I want to see your face.” The mask is removed and Snoke pushed the locks of black hair from Kylo Ren’s bruised face. “ Yes… that’s it. The face of a Solo.”

The touch made his skin crawl. “ I killed him. When the moment came, I did not hesitate.”

Snoke had slapped him, “ You were, and still is unbalanced! You had so much potential in the dark side and yet… you let the deed split you in half!”

He walked back to his dais. Ben looked down at the floor, his jaw ticking as he tried to restrain his anger.

“ I am _nothing_ like him.”

“ The prove it. Kill the last Jedi — kill Luke Skywalker.”

+++

“ I need to go.” He had said on the seventh night since Starkiller Base. His fingers traveled from her long hair, to her cheeks, and against her swollen, parted lips. She took them into her mouth, tasted herself, and pulled away with a pop.

“ And what will you do once you see him?”

“ Kill him.”

She rolled her hips, grinding down, “ And you will come back… to me.”

He pushed up to meet her, “ If my Empress wills it.”

“ I need you, Ben…” She silently cried.

Hearing her say his name would have made him angry, but Ben sighed in pleasure as he came undone, filling her deeply, as he rose up to capture her lips in a kiss.

In his mind he called her _sweetheart_ — the term of endearment his father had used on his mother. Rey unconsciously let herself be bathed in his light.

+++

A wide ocean and an island. Just like in his dreams, Ach-To had become a reality. The TIE Silencer landed at the base of the island, tucked away on the leeward side. If the Resistance were to come, he rather them be in for a surprise.

He couldn’t feel his uncle on the island. He had felt life forms, but they were insignificant, and none a member of the Resistance. So, with a sigh and a determination to _end it all_ , Ben Solo made his way up the cliffs to the top with his lightsaber at his hip and his grandfather’s in his hand. His cloak whipped around him from the choppy wind, he could taste the salt in the air, and he could feel the strength of the Force all around him.

“ Long time no see, kid.” Luke Skywalker said from atop the island of Ach-To. He had looked different — older, tired, and haggard. “ I knew you’d come one day. You look horrible.”

Ben Solo tossed Luke his grandfather’s lightsaber. He could have ended it then and there — but something had held him back. A tendril of the Force perhaps, pulling at his strings like a puppeteer, forcing him closer to the edge of the light.

“ Have they come yet?”

 “ No, they haven’t.”

“ But they are on their way.”

Luke knelt down and picked up the lightsaber. The fingers of mechanical prosthesis rolled over the familiar grooves of the hilt. Such a cursed thing to bring back, he thought grimly.

“ I hope it was worth it, kid.”

Ben had known immediately what Luke had referred to. His eyes drifted to the small memorial that Luke had constructed — a memorial to his father. His throat constricted as the memory of his father’s painful face flashed before his eyes.

Luke stood up and tossed the lightsaber back, “ I am not interested in your war. You made your decision when you burned my temple and took my students. If you’re not going to kill me, go back to your Supreme Leader and let me die in peace.”

+++

Sometimes her dreams were of that island, but most of them were of a ship flying away into the heavens and a little girl crying to the sky: _Come back! Come back!_

The girl would turn around to see the face of dark haired, older man in an Imperial navy uniform who had gripped her little arm, preventing her from running away. He looked down at her, shielding the sun from her eyes. She couldn’t see his face — in every dream — but she knew his voice.

“ Your parents have made the ultimate sacrifice for the Contingency of this Empire, child.”

Rey would then wake up in a sweat. Her memories were always a blur of confusion — missing pieces that her brain tried so desperately to put together in a failed attempt of making her whole again.

The doctors had told her that the memory loss was due to the exceedingly long time spent in suspended animation, but Rey had believed that something far more nefarious was at work, suppressing them purposefully.

+++

The tree had called him — whispers in the air, luring him within its warm light. He saw the ancient text, the ones that he had remembered reading as a child at the temple, and reached for them.

“ You loved reading those boring books.” Luke said from behind. Ben pulled his hand away as if he had been burned. “ Not much of a page turner, but you could recite passages from memory as if they were.”

“ The books were flawed. Written by foolish men.”

The tone of Luke’s voice had gone grim, “ Why are you here? If not to kill me, then why? Certainly it is not for the books.”

Ben turned around and pulled back the hood of his cloak, “ To find answers.”

“ There are no answers here, kid.”

Luke had given his nephew one last look before turning away. Ben looked away and gave a shaken sigh.

“ I… am conflicted. Torn.” He paused, collected his nerves, “ I thought… If… I killed him, that I would be purged of the pain. But it’s only gotten worst and I have yet to find any peace.”

A moment had passed and then the Jedi master spoke, “  There is no peace in the dark side, only pain. You picked this path — now you must deal with the consequences.”

+++

She came to him at night, the Force granting them the moments they had yearned for in secret. They had spoken to each other, hush whispers of experiences yet kept the conflict of their inner most turmoil to themselves.

Could he admit to her that he couldn’t find the will power to kill his own Uncle? That he was confused as to what his path should be? Or would she tell him of the anxiety she had felt if being unable to recall the past — that something was not right.

So they resorted to what they were comfortable with.

“ We are on our way to D’Qar. The Resistance will be dealt with soon.”

Ben watched Rey as she combed her long hair where she sat across the hut. She was preparing for bed, the thin nightgown a sight he had been all too familiar with. He tried to focus on her beauty rather than face the potential reality that his mother was about to die.

He looked at Rey and focused on the end goal — all of it was destiny. Their destiny.

“ And the galaxy will finally know peace as the Supreme Leader has foretold.” Ben said.

Rey put her brush down and the item had faded from his view. She looked at him, “ The Supreme Leader is wise.”

Was he? Ben closed his eyes and exhaled. When he opened them she was gone.

+++

“ You’re still here.” Luke said as he walked past his nephew, carrying a large fish on his back as he walked up the pathway back to the hits of the Jedi temple. Ben followed after him.

“ I am.” He replied.

“ Whatever you’re seeking, I can’t help you. I’ve already told you this.” Luke stopped and turned around. “ Besides, this is getting awkward. I’m sure Snoke isn’t too happy with you stalling on killing me.”

Luke continued up the cliff side.

“ That’s the thing… I can’t do what he asks of me to do.”

“ That’s your problem.”

“ The light calls for me and it’s stronger with each passing day.”

Luke ignored him as he returned to the village. Ben growled in frustration at the rebuff, and stalked after his uncle.

The fish landed onto the stone floor with a large thud and the nuns came to clean and filet it for the night’s dinner.

Luke watched his nephew with weary eyes —why was he here and why now after all of these years; after all the pain and turmoil he had caused their family. The Jedi was conflicted, torn on what to do. He had came to Ach-To because of his nephew and of his own hubris. Now, by some twist of fate or by some cruel joke of the Force, Luke was forced to deal with his past — his nephew.

He ran a hand over his bearded chin.

“ Ben,” Luke called out. “ Meet me at the temple at dusk.”

Maybe this would be penance for them both.

+++

D’Qar burned but the Resistance escaped. The Supreme Leader was not pleased, but a glimmer of victory given to him on a silver platter by General Hux he changed his bitter mood. Tied to a string, as the general had mention. The end was near.

“ How have you been feeling, my child?” Snoke had asked Rey once they were alone in the throne room aboard the _Supremacy._

“ I’m fine.” She lied as she knelt onto the smooth surface of the throne room floor. The young woman had spent most of siege against the Resistance’s base in bed, unbelievably sick with nauseation.

She did not feel comfortable admitting the truth to him. There was a possibility but she could not be certain and above all else the Supreme Leader could not know of the affair between her and Kylo Ren — or even worst, the bond.

Rey had kept her shields up to protect herself.

“ I see. Well, the final battle is afoot and soon we will be rid of the rebel scum. Once they’re eradicated, you will emerge to fulfill your destiny as it’s new leader. It’s _true_ beacon of _hope_.”

“ Yes, Supreme Leader.”

She looked at her reflection in the floor and wondered if she could see the strings hanging from above, guiding her every step like a puppet.

+++

“ I can’t kill him.” Ben told Rey from the other side of the fire. He said it as if he told her that the sky was blue or that the astromech droid needed a format. Rey’s eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

“ What do you mean… you can’t?”

She heard the lightening, the howling of the wind outside of his hut. She no Long was on _the Supremacy,_ anymore; she was physically in the same space as he was. The proximity to such a strong concentration of the Force probably was the reason, though neither had realized it, or care to.

Rey asked again, “ What do you mean?”

“ If I kill him, nothing will change.”

“ If he lives hope lives. The Supreme Leader has said so.”

“ Rey.”

“ You told me — _showed_ me — that Ben Solo is dead yet why do I feel so… much light from you?”

Ben pulled off his glove and reached for her hand. Rey looked at his outstretched hand and hesitantly reached for it, allowing him to intertwine their fingers together. In that moment, Rey saw how bright his light was, almost blindingly so. She saw the memories of his past, of the happy moments and of the sad moments. She could feel the suffocating presence of Snoke looming in the background, twisting those memories into nightmares.

She pulled her hand away as if she was burned.

“ I…” The words had felt heavy on her tongue. She felt his thumb against her cheek, wiping away the tears that had fallen. Since when did she cry? She looked at him.

“ Rey…”

“ It was never supposed to be this way.” She whispered. She brought a hand to her stomach and leaned forward. “ It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”

She did not know how it happened. She did not know why she let him take her the way they he did — so gentle and warm. It did not make the pain go away. It did not keep the fear at bay. It was only temporary— the feeling of his hips rocking against her own, his breath against her ear, his cock buried deep inside making her body come alive with each thrust.

It only masked the suffering, of the reality that he would kill her one day.

She did not let him know what the vision had shown her. Rey surrendered herself to him.

“ Come back to me.” She whispered into the darkness of the hut. “ Leave this place and come back to your Empress.”

If he Emperor could defy the Force, than she would too.

+++

Luke handed Ben the lightsaber — his grandfather’s lightsaber.

“ You might need this more than me.”

Ben looked at the hilt in his hand, “ They’re on Crait. I can feel them — they don’t stand a chance.”

“ I’m not going to take down an entire army with a laser sword. That, kid, is up to you to do. Your decision will make or break this war.”

“ Mother…”

“ … is a strong woman.” Luke rubbed his beard. “ You can end this. I know you can… Its like I said at the temple — this is _your_ fight.”

+++

When he arrived on the _Supremacy_ , he was greeted by the Empress herself, cloaked from the eyes of the Stormtroopers. His heart ached, but not because of what she would do to him, but what he would ultimately do to her. She lead him into the elevator and pulled her hood back.

There, brown eyes met with hazel.

She took his hand and guided it to life they had created within her. Nothing more needed to be said. He pulled her into an embrace and buried his face into the crook of her neck with a shaky exhale.

+++

“ The Empress and her Dark Knight. How amazing it is to finally see you two together again.” Snoke said with a crooked grin from his dais. 

The two knelt before the Supreme Leader. Ben took Anakin’s lightsaber from his belt and put it on the floor in front of him like an offering. Snoke, with the Force, willed it to him and let it rest on the arm rest of his dais.

“ I’ve killed Skywalker. He is of no threat to us now.” Ben said, his shields firmly up.

“ I see. Well, I suppose we should celebrate this new beginning with a swift stroke and snuff out the light.”

Ben felt the growing pressure against his throat as Snoke used the Force to rise him to his feet. Master of the Knights of Ren reached for his throat as Snoke’s grip against it grew tighter.

“ You are as weak as your father.” Snoke spat. “ All of these years spent on training you to be my apprentice only for you to disappoint me.” Ben feet dangled centimeters from the floor. “ I thought you were wiser than that. Oh, and yet you wish for the Empress to save you? Foolish boy, I was the one that bridged your minds together!”

Ben fell to the floor on his hands and knees. He held his throat as he violently coughed, trying to breathe in as much air as he possibly could. He winced as he sat up, barely coherent enough to comprehend what Snoke had just said.

Rey glances at Ben, a slight moment of subtle shock on her painted features.

Why would… the Supreme Leader do such a thing? Why would he manipulate her into…? She fought the urge to cover her mouth, fighting back the bile that had tried to rise from her stomach.

“ Yes, that’s right. I planned it from the very beginning. The grandson of Darth Vader and the creation of the Emperor himself, bridged together emotionally and physically by _me_ for the sole purpose of producing a child so gifted in the Force that they will defy death!”

Rey subconsciously wrapped her arms around her middle as she watched the Supreme Leader in shock. It could not have been true. There was no way that the Supreme Leader could do such a thing without it actually killing him.

“ Oh, and we will give Skywalker his wish for a death — once I am done with eradicating you, your mother and her rebel scum.”

Rey stood up and shrugged off her cloak. She walked over to Ben and took his lightsaber from where it rested on his belt. He looked at her with a flushed face and pain in his eyes. She stood before him and pointed the hilt in his direction. Once ignited, it would pierce him through his head, killing him instantly.

But would she do that? Could she do that?

Snoke closed his eyes and smiled, “ The legacy of Sith Lord Sidious, the creation of his gifted might has now come to accept her fate to eradicating the disease that is the Skywalker legacy from this galaxy.”

Rey looked at Ben, speaking to him with words unsaid. He couldn’t read her, his mind distracted and clouded with doubt, worry, and fear. He was unable to move, bound by Snoke, staring at the hilt of the lightsaber he forged in the hands of the woman he loved.

So this was how it was going to end?

“ Strike at him now and accept your destiny!”

Ben dropped to the floor and turned around to see Anakin’s lightsaber bisecting Snoke in half. He turned and looked at Rey before beckoning the saber into his hand.

“ Why…”

“ I don’t know.”

The Praetorian Guards went for the attack and fell to the blades of the galaxy’s strongest Force users.

+++

“ Come with me.”

The throne room burned. Snoke bisected body laid at the foot of his dais, joined by his Praetorian guard. In the center stood two figures clad in black, sweat, and blood. They breathed heavily as the adrenaline still lingered, uncertain of what was to come next.

Rey turned around and looked at Ben. Her hair had came loose from her bun, cascading wildly down her back, some strands stuck to the sweat on her exposed skin. He had faired no better, looking as she had remembered seeing him time and time again on every battlefield.

“ Ben…” She licked her dry lips. “ Don’t do this. Don’t be foolish.”

“ Rey, we can stop all of this if we left together! Join the Resistance and stop the suffering!”

“ Why do you continue to hold on to that light! Why can’t you just let go for once and realize that it’s over! The Republic, all of it is over! You could have everything you ever wanted now!”

“ This? There is nothing here but pain! Let go and come with me!” He held his hand out to her, his eyes pleading, “ _Please_ , Rey. Think of our child…”

“ You could have become Emperor…” Rey said softly, “ Could have ruled the galaxy at my side. Start a new dynasty with the First Order…”

“ I can’t…”

“ Neither can I.” She activated his lightsaber and pointed it at him. “ I was taken as a child and transformed, molded, into this. My _destiny_ is to carry out the Emperor’s final order.”

“ Rey…”

Tears were falling down her cheeks.

“ Go. Before I change my mind.”

When Ben has escaped and the _Raddus_ split the _Supremacy_ in half, Rey had stood in the ruins of what was once her home. She looked up at the door when Hux came running in, his face red with frenzy.

“ What has happened?” He barked. Rey looked around and back at Hux. “ Where is Kylo Ren?”

“ Gone. Ready whatever troops we have left and rendezvous at Rishii.”

“ How _dare_ you bark orders at me! I am the second in command! Our Supreme Leader is _dead_!”

Rey reached out with her and and brought Hux to his knees. Her eyes glowed yellow, rimmed with angry tears.

“ The Supreme Leader is _dead_.”

“ Long live… the Supreme… Leader.”

“ Now leave this place or I will kill you myself!”

+++

A son returned to his mother. A mother took her son  back.

And a band of rebels solemnly conceded to the unfortunate truth that their enemy was now their savior.

+++

“ She is strong in the Force.”

“ Exceedingly so.”

“ You don’t have to do this.” A pause. “ There’s so much light in you… and her.”

“ My destiny is _here_.”

“ If It were there the Force would have severed our bond. He was lying.”

“ His lies do not change our reality.”

Ben took a step forward, closing the distance between them even though they were light years apart physically.

“ May I touch her?”

Rey nodded. He got on his knees and she closed her eyes as she felt the ghost of his hand on her swollen belly. He peppered kisses, whispered sweet nothings as she carded her hand through his hair, until he disappeared; the Force deciding bring them back to reality.

The Supreme Leader stepped out of her chambers and onto the deck of the newly dreadnought, the _Inferno._

“ Burn it down. The people. The cities. All of it.”

And so the world burned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah. no happy ending here folks. or is it? idk, i decided to leave it up in the air. do they get together or don't they? probably, though, she will end up leaving because hux is there and hux hates her and all force users. 
> 
> so what is rey? rey is basically rey but instead of being born 19 years before TFA, she was born 39 years before TFA. Sold off by her drunk ass parents to the empire's gallius rax to be a midicholorian experiment by the Emperor. The Emperor was obsessed with cheating death and finding out how to manipulate midicholorians to achieve this, and rey just happened to be that experiment. obviously things didn't go as planned and operation cinder came into effect by gallius rax. but rather than kill the girl, he ordered her frozen, thinking that one day she'd be released and rebuild the empire. instructions were left, discovered by brendol hux, who then brought it to the supreme leader and boom -- rest is history.
> 
> so by tfa she is exactly the same age as kylo ren.
> 
> anyway, thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I don't believe that Rey is the child of Palpatine for the films, but I do find the headcanon that Rey could have been a child/product/experimentation/etc of Palpatine pretty fascinating. So here we are. 
> 
> Part II will be released sometime soon. 
> 
> Also I just wanted to write some dark reylo trash.


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